The concept behind Question Box is simple.  It's an all questions answered service where people call or SMS a given number with a question about anything, speaking in their local language.  Using a pre-populated database and the Internet, Operators look up the answers to the users' questions and answer them, translating if necessary.  The service works for any type of information, no matter how broad or focused.

Question Box brings the power of the Internet to people who prefer speaking and listening.  It takes advantage of the explosive growth in mobile phone use, while recognizing that sucessful bottom of the pyramid technology needs to be simple, intuitive, and fun.

Question Box brings information to people who are likely to never get on the Internet. It requires no literacy, and can be accessed anywhere.  The advent of the Internet brought about enormous, unexpected changes.  We aim to bring some of that same power to people who currently have tremendous difficulty in accessing information.

The Question Box integrated software platform (SMS, Voice, Web) will be licensed to organizations.  It will be open source with an optional service contract for deployment and implentation.

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Question Box has been piloted in Noida, India, is being piloted in Pune, India.  In these pilots, the Question Box service is provided via a metal telephone box, which contains a phone that direct-dials to the Operator answering questions.

The project will soon pilot in Uganda in conjunction with Grameen, where the service will be offered by Community Knowledge Workers via mobile phone.  Question Bodx has been featured on Boing Boing, the BBC, ABC News Online and the UK Sunday Telegraph. A number of NGOs have been in contact with us, interested in partnering with the service to study Social Behavior and provide information about Agriculture, Water and Public Health.  As software/service solution, our platform can workfor any group interested in any dataset.